


Promises Kept

by DaughterOfDungeonBat



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Gen, Grief/Mourning, Light Angst, One-Shot, Spoilers, referenced parental death, references to Shigure and Azura supports
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 01:02:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7597219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaughterOfDungeonBat/pseuds/DaughterOfDungeonBat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Azura told her son that when the war was over she would throw her amulet into a lake where it could never hurt anyone ever again.<br/>Now the war is over, but Azura is gone. So the task falls to Shigure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises Kept

With the sea breeze whipping against his face, Shigure could pretend that the burning in his eyes was because of the salty air digging into them. He told himself it was the harsh, clawing air that was the cause if the tears searing trails down his cheeks, not the grief that had sunk its claws into every particle of his being. Shigure clamped his eyes shut and yanked on the reigns. His pegasus whinnied in disapproval. 

“Sorry, Descant.” Shigure said, guiding her into a low hover over the slowly rolling waves.

Seeing his broken reflection on the ocean’s surface was a strange dose of reality. Despite everything that had happened, everything he had been through, the war that had raged in his country and soul, he was still Shigure. Still the blue-haired boy on the white pegasus. It brought little comfort. 

Clenching his teeth, Shigure reached into his shirt, wrapping his fingers around the metal that felt like it was burning a hole through his pale flesh. It looked too innocuous, too innocent, for what it had done. For what it had take away. Shigure turned the amulet in his hand, the temptation that stirred within his despite all he knew making him want to vomit. It could bring her back, though, whispered the meddling thought that had wheedled at his brain since he first held the amulet in his hand.

Shame kept Shigure from meeting the eyes of his reflection in the back of the warm metal; the reflection that revealed all of the harsh details the sea had smoothed over. Shigure’s handsome face had become gaunt and grey, his golden eyes duller than they had ever been. Even his hair, normally sleek and well-combed, was clearly bedraggled by more than the wind. Anyone could see that Shigure had been weathered severely, both inside and out.

Descant tossed her head, pulling Shigure back to himself; back to the task he had been set.

He closed his hand around the talisman, the warm metal seeming to pulse in his hand. Not for the first time, Shigure mused on how easy it would be to simply slip the silver chain around his neck and fly home like nothing had happened. No one knew the promise he had made, and no one would question him keeping the last piece of his-

Shigure saw his mother’s face suddenly, pleading with him on that day. Making him swear not to follow in her footsteps.

Before he could be tempted again, Shigure hurled the amulet with all his strength, letting out an animalistic scream as the magic necklace flew, the chain glinting like fish scales and the blue jewel flashing blindingly in the sunlight. The tiny splash was lost in the beating of Descant’s wings, and the cursed object was gone forever. 

An unnatural silence seemed to fill Shigure’s ears, despite the rolling waves and his own heavy breathing, as if a noise he hadn’t realized had been buzzing in his mind had suddenly stopped. Shigure jerked his head and clicked his tongue, turning Descant back the way they had come. As they soared back toward home, Shigure was unable to keep himself from slumping forward in his saddle. He pressed his face into Descant’s neck.

In that moment, the wind whipping around his head felt like his mother’s fingers carding through his hair when he was young and she visited his Deeprealm. Shigure heard her songs in the roar of the sky over the waves she sang so often of.

The wind had a third task that day. It drowned the sounds of Shigure’s cries just as the sea had drowned the magic amulet.

**Author's Note:**

> I am always open to suggestions for future one-shots! Anyone interested can find me on tumblr at daughterofdungeonbat  
> Comments/ideas greatly appreciated!


End file.
